Gripping and grim, "Sugarcane" is a heart wrenching must see documentary.
Sugarcane follows survivors and investigators after the horrifying treatment of Indigenous Canadians was discovered at residential schools.
Sugarcane is coming to Hulu and Disney+. The documentary tells the dreadful history of Indigenous residential schools and the lasting impacts it's left on survivors, their families, and the community. The documentary takes audiences on a gripping investigation of unmarked graves at an Indian residential school unearths secrets below and above ground.
On the Sugarcane Reserve in British Columbia in 2021, the discovery of unmarked graves at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church that used to house a residential school made headlines and sparked a vigorous investigation that spearheaded by its young chief Willie Sellars.
According to the University of Manitoba's National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, for more than 150 years, approximately 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend residential or boarding schools, where their hair was cut and they were forbidden to speak their language. Survivors of these horrific circumstances later went on to talk about the terrible conditions, physical, sexual, and mental abuse, as well as emotional and long lasting trauma that these schools had on them and their families.
As the search for justice for those survivors who are still alive and those who were namelessly buried in unmarked graves or lost goes on throughout the film, graphic and horrifying stories of sexual and physical abuse are shared by former students and survivors of the school in Canada.
Viewers also see the frustrating, unjust, and endless pursuit for justice and accountability which shows the resilience and strong will of the Indigenous people to hold those responsible for the grievous acts accountable.
Although heart wrenching and some critics have stated that the documentary may be difficult for some viewers to watch, the pain that those directly affected by these horrendous events have experienced deserves to be recognized on a large scale and put into historical context.
On September 1, 2020, the Government of Canada announced the designation of the Residential School System as a national historic event under the National Program of Historical Commemoration.
The Residential School System has impacted multiple generations of Indigenous peoples, with long-term detrimental effects on First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities, cultures, economies, traditional knowledge and ways of life, languages, family structures, and connections to the land.
Sugarcane premieres on National Geographic on today, Monday, December 9, at 8 p.m. and will stream the next day on Disney+ and Hulu.